I am a Xennial – that means I grew up in the middle of the technology shift from analog to digital. When I see Gen Z and Alpha getting super buzzed over using things like tape decks, film cameras, and old Razor cell phones it makes me cringe a little. I get it – you missed that stage of technology like my generation missed using things like gramophones and telegraphs. Did you see my age group waxing poetic about that missing nostalgia? No, we embraced both the analog and the digital.

We welcome not having to carry around all this:

That is a lot of consumer products that we don’t need to buy anymore because a single smart phone has them all. And yet – no one seems happy about it. I am sure Steve Jobs is rolling in his grave watching a whole new generation mourn the loss of the old iPod or the flip phone.

They never learned to just be alone with their thoughts. They had parents who were over protective – I am looking at you Gen X for doing this to your kids. You of all people should have known the important of getting kids be kids and going out to play and get in trouble. I could condemn them further but I see some my own micro generation doing the same to their kids – creating more iPad kids. I also see my gen trying to keep their kids offline and outdoors as much as possible and trying to give their children the same start that they had.

I don’t have children so I don’t have a lot of horses in this race but I can’t help but roll my eyes at the 20 somethings right now who are head over heals excited to get a flip phone or their first film camera. They don’t understand why we move away from those mediums. Film has always been expensive but it is even more so now. Flip phones I can understand going back to but why buy something new when your current phone still works just fine? All of this going back is just leading to more over consumption.

I understand that struggle of wanting to spend less time “online” but I am the generation that birthed what it means to be online. I was there for the creation of everything from ICQ to MSN Messenger to MySpace to Facebook and Instagram. I have also seen the deaths of the blog and Live Journal to the birth of the vlog and YouTube. Even gaming has changed from being totally offline to being unable to play your game without some kind of Internet connection.

Do I think we have gone a little too far? No, there’s a whole lot further we could go before we reach that point. Do I think each human needs to take responsibility for making sure they limit their online addition – yes, I do. I think we need to accept that we have moved our dopamine addiction to the Internet and it’s time to set limits for ourselves.

Am I going to trade my smart phone in for a flip phone? No – my smart phone works just fine.
Am I going to go back to film photography? No – it is too expensive for film and development. I have a nice digital camera that I can use if I want an offline camera.
Am I going to dig out my old MP3 player? Maybe. I recently found my old iPod Nano that my work gifted me back in 2008. It’s got “Club Penguin” engraved on the back because that’s the game I used to work on.

What do I do to roll back my online time?

I set limits on my online time. For example, I use my computer to quickly checking my social medias and keep all of the apps off of my mobile device. I have limits set on my access during my work hours so that I only get important phone calls and texts.

The broken promise of the future we were supposed to have

You see this phrase a lot. It’s usually associated with Frutiger Aero, rounded and bright technology, and hoverboards. The vision of what the 21st century was going to be like is a far cry for how its turning out and we are only a quarter of the way through it. People are nostalgia for the world before 9/11 and the bright and shiny promise we all have when the calendar moved over to the year 2000.

No doubt, we have had some amazing progress in the last 25 years and right now there’s a whole bunch of people who want to roll that progress back to the 1980s where racism, sexism, and homophobia were acceptable in everyday circles. No, thank you. I like that my gay and trans friends are more welcome in the greater society and I want to see them thrive and have fulfilling lives where they don’t need to live in fear.

Anyways, I could rant about this but this woman says and shows it better than me: